Alas.... Ear Wax.

My partner and I are fans of Harry Potter.  I remember buying the Order of the Pheonix in a London corner store and reading it on the flight home and remarking on the differences in some of the words between the US and British versions.  The "Sorcerer's Stone" was the "Philosopher's Stone", for example.  Harry Potter merchandise snuck into our lives for those first few years and there are still bits and bobs of it laying around.  Yesterday, we took a day off of work and decided to head over to Orlando and check out the Harry Potter ride at Islands of Adventure.  My fellow Patch blogger, , had just gone herself and I was . 

Wednesday morning we headed out thinking that a mid-week work day with anticipated rain might afford us a relatively un-crowded park and a quick ride on both the Harry Potter experience and the Hulk.  Like Dumbeldore pulling that ear wax flavored bean out of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, we seemed to have picked a bad day to go.

The Harry Potter experience is very closely modeled on the movie sets, as you would expect from Universal Studios.  The walkways are thankfully not as narrow as in the movies, but they were so crowded they may as well have been.  Every shop had a rope line and a minder outside.  Our meal at Hogsmeade required several lines to finally get a table.  My partner, Troy, commented that they had made the Harry Potter Experience too small.  I agree.  I don't think they anticipated the popularity.  I have never had to wait in line for a gift shop at Disney.  

The ride itself is amazing, and I say that both from a fan's perspective and a gadget-lovers perspective. However, the wait in line is roughly 90 minutes and they weren't accepting the Express passes on this ride. Luckily, they were selling beer in the line.  I imagine anyone with a large family on a hot day may find this feature useful.  Our first time on the ride, it broke down twice.  They turned on all the lights and I got an eye-full of how it is constructed.  The best way to describe it is an automotive construction robot that is just one big arm holding a four-seat bench on the end. It has wheels on the bottom and rolls along a track with the bench and guests suspended high above.  Each bench has its own, individual robot controling it which expertly orients you towards the scenery and movie screens you need to see, while deftly swinging, swooping, and bumping you along the way.  If you are prone to motion sickness, this isn't your ride.  We got stuck in front of an area where things spit at you.  

Our second time through was line-free as an apology for the ruined first trip.  It went flawlessly and I could see how all the elements fit together into a single experience.  

The Butter Beer is a win. We bought the fancy mugs that go with it.  Despite how sweet it is, I'd love some more.  The fish and chips at Hogsmeade reminded me of an old place in my small home town in California.  They were good.  After our meal, we headed out to the Hulk, which, sadly, was closed down due to the downpour and threat of lightening.

My advice to fellow Potter fans looking to visit Islands of Adventure is timing is everying.  Go early and on an off day (if there is such a thing there.)  The ride is worth it.  My advice to Universal Studios is to demolish the long-in-the-tooth Jurrasic Park area and expand Harry Potter.  Disney can handle far larger crowds more gracefully than you can--emulate them.